


Where He Goes

by Rosage



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Fluff, Other, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:43:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14815065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: Asra shows Julian the forest as he’s never seen it before.





	Where He Goes

**Author's Note:**

> Set in a vague post-canon where things turn out okay. I wrote this many months ago, so if it's not a little canon divergent yet it may be eventually.

The forest is too quiet. There’s nothing to drown out Julian’s thoughts, or all the little noises that sound like thunder without interference. Snapped twigs, buzzing bugs, Malak’s caws. Maybe that’s why his lips keep flapping even though Asra’s have been tight all morning.

“I’m just saying, whatever path is being revealed to you certainly isn’t to me,” Julian says with a gesture of his arm. It bangs into a nearby tree trunk, and he sucks in a breath. _Not enough_. “Didn’t you say danger lurked here? How am I supposed to recognize it?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“To me? That’s not what I meant. I can’t protect you from something I can’t see.”

Asra’s shoulders tense. “You don’t need to.”

“I—I don’t? Weren’t you the one who asked me to escort you?” Cryptically, and Julian hadn’t pictured himself stumbling through the woods all day, but of course he’d said yes without a thought.

“Maybe I wanted some company.”

“Oh, if it’s company you want, I know a place that serves excellent—”

“Maybe next time.” Finally Asra explains that he has something to gather for the shop, or maybe it’s for something else; Julian isn’t paying attention because _next time_ is beating along with the blood in his ears.

Asra twists to study him. Julian’s hands don’t quite know how to settle. “Does not seeing bother you that much?” Asra asks. It had already fled Julian’s mind, with the leaves patterning lavender shadows onto Asra’s hair, and Asra watching him with eyes that see much while revealing little.

“No, not that much, it’s just, what would you think if you had to walk across ground you couldn’t feel beneath your feet? Or, or hide from an invisible palace guard?”

“There are other ways for those things to make themselves known.”

“That’s the thing, those other ways, I don’t have them.”

Asra presses a thumb to his lips while he considers that, and again Julian loses whatever had concerned him. To his disappointment, Asra’s gaze sweeps away to their surroundings.

“Deer have been through here. See the tracks?” Asra points to the imprints of hooves, then sniffs the bark of a nearby tree. “Mating season.” His lips twitch. “Anyway, if it makes you feel better, you can follow the tracks. Deer have a good sense of smell. They wouldn’t go within miles of the type of magic I’m avoiding.”

“Deer tracks, is it? Those, I can see.”

It is a mild comfort, that Asra must be safe right here, at least from whatever it is Julian can’t guard him from. But as they continue he does not watch the tracks, does not even look down to avoid tripping over roots. Asra’s back guides him.

* * *

By the time they stop by a brook that cuts through the forest, Asra has filled a pouch with herbs and mushrooms, plus an additional one for Julian to take to Mazelinka. _For remedies_ , Julian reminds himself. _Soup. Medicine._

Julian sits on a log, his legs bent awkwardly and one tapping while he watches Asra get out ingredients for their meal. He insisted that Julian not help, and, well, Julian has eaten both of their cooking. It won’t stop him from watching to make sure no lizards end up in his food.

When flames emerge from rocks to lick Asra’s palms, Julian jumps to his feet.

“Just a little fire magic,” Asra says. His hands aren’t burnt, but Julian can’t sit back down. He begins to pace.

“Still hard to believe that’s magic. All you did was touch it.” The simplest sight, and nothing to explain it. Like so many things in Mazelinka’s home.

“Anyone can perform a magical act,” Asra says as if reading his thoughts, not that Julian would put that past him. “Magic is just how you make your wishes reality.”

Julian halts to peer down at Asra, kneeling in the grass with dirt under his nails and leaves in his hair. Asra relaxes while he gets out a knife to cut some wild vegetables they found, releasing a soft, airy hum, and if wishes are magic, Julian’s yearning is the only type he understands.

While they eat, Julian tells a story about a particularly disastrous fishing trip, but it’s obvious Asra’s mind is elsewhere. As Julian packs up, Asra asks, “Would you like to see the world as I do?”

“Yes, yes, that would be—yes.”

“It’s not totally possible. Without magic, there are places you’ll never be able to go.”

Julian doubts he manages to hide his disappointment. It will never sit well with him that there are places Asra can go where he can’t follow. “I, ah, should have guessed.”

Asra mirrors his disappointment for a moment before his face smooths. “Still, it might be interesting to experiment.”

“Experiment?”

“Nothing dangerous. But only if you want.”

Once, that Asra wanted to would have been the only reason for Julian to mess around with magic. Now… Well, he doesn’t stop to think about it. “I do want. Want to, er, experiment, that is. Nothing dangerous,” he repeats, holding Asra’s gaze. The answer seems to please Asra. He cups Julian’s face, splaying his fingers over his cheekbones.

“Close your eyes.”

Julian’s eyelids squeeze shut, clenching while Asra’s thumbs rub them. It’s hard to tell if the tingling heat rushing to and from his face is a sign of whatever Asra is doing or simply how Asra affects him. But then it all collapses into cold, and he shivers beneath Asra’s touch.

“That should do it.” Asra’s hands slide to hover around Julian’s jaw, and Julian opens his eyes.

He’s said that Asra glows, but he didn’t mean like this. Light radiates from him, making his features shine as if from the inside out--his long lashes, his cheekbones, the curves of his lips. Every time Julian tries to assign the glow framing him a color, it shifts.

“Well?” Asra asks.  
  
“Breathtaking.”

“You haven’t even looked.”  
  
“I don’t need to.”

He must look a fool, but he can’t stop gaping. Asra laughs and reaches for Julian’s chin. “Come on, I want to know if this worked.” At the slightest pressure Julian tilts to survey the scene. The aura around Asra has spread to the forest like it’s been set ablaze. Julian removes a glove and holds his palm out, but he feels no heat.      

For some reason, the shapes in the water are easier to identify as fish; maybe it’s because their scales are more vibrant than usual, deep purple and orange. Shapes move above the water as well, not bugs, nor birds. They’re as squiggly as his handwriting and no easier to decode, shimmering in his peripheral vision such that they must be a trick of the light.

He tries to relay this all to Asra without a magician’s terminology. Asra is unfazed. “Huh, you can see a little.”

Julian is barely more coherent than the fish. Seeing just this bit, knowing it’s _a little_ , makes it all clearer—the chasm between him and the world where Asra lives.

“A little? What, what do you see right now?”

While Asra describes it, Julian gawks. Apparently the entire forest is as vibrant and textured as the fish scales, but not so slippery as everything in Julian’s vision. Fungus and foliage glow in guiding patterns, which explains how Asra found what he was looking for—the only clue that he’s not making this up.

“I know herbs that force such a state,” Julian says.

Asra laughs again. “This is much better, trust me.” He tilts his palm upward. The light catches in it, refracting in a rainbow of colors, and as if called—as if _sentient_ —the squiggles dance and trill.

“Those squiggles, are they—are they really there?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Are they always there?” 

“Wherever they live, yes.”  
  
It’s unnerving to think some other type of creature could be there, watching, without his knowledge. But if they were studied, this could this be a medical breakthrough. “Do they carry illness? Affect minds?”

Asra’s grin fades. “No, they’re harmless. But they’re keeping their distance. I guess they can tell you’re afraid.”

Asra’s eyes have gone cold, whatever spark he cast on the forest withdrawing with him. In a panic Julian reaches for his hand. “I’m not afraid.”

“Aren’t you?” Asra’s voice is soft, his eyes probing, but he grips Julian’s hand. Julian bites his lip.

“No,” he says, twining their fingers. “I’m not.”


End file.
